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Ft Lauderdale B2B - What can we expect

DeepWaterMariner

By DeepWaterMariner,
in Holland America Line

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sail7seas

sail7seas

Posted
Posted

The last night of the first cruise, you will receive a letter telling you dining hours and that you must leave the ship by the end of disembarkation, go into the terminal and clear Immigration. They leave choices such as you can go on your own early, clear Immigration and spend the day in FLL if you wish. They also have the group of those doing b-to-b (Collectors) meet in the lounge and go together. We KNOW for sure you can and we DID go on our own. We waited until they were nearing the end of disembarkation, took our passports, entered the terminal, cleared on our own, sat on a bench outside and enjoyed the pretty day until they had 'zeroed' down the ship. (Everyone who was leaving had done so.) We were then permitted to reboard.

 

There are those here who say you must go as a group but that is not true. You can if you wish but you also can choose to go alone.

 

The letter you get the night before will include a 'in transit' card. Bring that ashore with you to bypass the whole check in area to clear security and reboard.

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cruisun

cruisun

Posted
Posted

It is a virtually painless process. I have done this several times and it usually takes less than an hour.

On my first few b2b cruises, before 2009, b2b passengers were not required to disembark. Last year I asked why disembarking was now required and received various different answers. It's really not a big deal but I am curious as to why they changed the rules!?

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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
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We have done quite a few back-to-back cruises including a recent one on Noordam.

The day before we got our Intransit Cards -- there were 334 of us. This is the first time that we were given Intransit cards that were laminated and had the ship name on it as well as being numbered.

On our cruise only a handful of people took tours or went anywhere on their own since the majority of the Intransit people were from Florida.

We were told to report to the Show Lounge at 9:45 AM. There was coffee and pastries available. At 10:10 there was an announcement made that 200 other passengers who were leaving the ship for good still had yet to get off the ship and go through immigration.

At 10:30 we finally got to go into the terminal and we quickly went through immigration and went upstairs to sit. There were not enough seats for everyone. We were not at our usual terminal 26. Instead we were at terminal 21. Seabourn Quest was at terminal 26 and Rotterdam was at terminal 19. Liberty of the Seas was at terminal 25.

At 11 AM they were still looking for 4 people on the ship who had yet to come and go through immigration. They were finally found on Deck 10 enjoying the sunny day. They claimed that they had no idea that they were supposed to have gone through immigration.

Finally at 11:10 we were all allowed to reboard the ship.

No one collected our numbered Intransit cards -- so I have no idea what that was about.

Also -- we were not excused from the second lifeboat drill as had been the case in the last few back-to-back cruises that we have done. Everyone had to attend. Both of our lifeboat drills were at 4:30.

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sail7seas

sail7seas

Posted
Posted

We had roughly the same number of in transits as KK and we also received the laminated cards that were not collected though we did show them when we entered the terminal. They asked to see ours as we did not go with the large group. DH and I went on our own and they were absolutely fine about it and all said that is permitted. We didn't wish to do whole meet up in the show lounge thing if it was not required. I try to avoid large groups and lines.

We were prompt about presenting ourselves.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted

Just one word of warning - if the ship happens to have NORO (heaven forbid) and they have to do deep cleaning - you will be kept off until it is done (of course you will know that before you get off). Happened to people on the first leg of our P'dam cruise. Not sure if they had a b2b, collectors or whatever the term would be, but they did have to disembark to bring the ship to 0 and could not get back on until just before the rest of us - around 2 pm.

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woody14h

woody14h

Posted
Posted

On our last BtoB (Noordam) we exited the ship and waited in the lounge. 2 hours wasted. 1st, the ship couldn't kind 2 passengers. They finally exited to a round of boos from the lounge. 2nd, HAL decided to show a group of high school students who wanted to be Travel Agents's a tour of the ship first, another delay. Don't plan on much activities that day. The good news is your luggage is not missing.

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Himself

Himself

Posted
Posted
We have done quite a few back-to-back cruises including a recent one on Noordam.

The day before we got our Intransit Cards -- there were 334 of us. This is the first time that we were given Intransit cards that were laminated and had the ship name on it as well as being numbered.

On our cruise only a handful of people took tours or went anywhere on their own since the majority of the Intransit people were from Florida.

We were told to report to the Show Lounge at 9:45 AM. There was coffee and pastries available. At 10:10 there was an announcement made that 200 other passengers who were leaving the ship for good still had yet to get off the ship and go through immigration.

At 10:30 we finally got to go into the terminal and we quickly went through immigration and went upstairs to sit. There were not enough seats for everyone. We were not at our usual terminal 26. Instead we were at terminal 21. Seabourn Quest was at terminal 26 and Rotterdam was at terminal 19. Liberty of the Seas was at terminal 25.

At 11 AM they were still looking for 4 people on the ship who had yet to come and go through immigration. They were finally found on Deck 10 enjoying the sunny day. They claimed that they had no idea that they were supposed to have gone through immigration.

Finally at 11:10 we were all allowed to reboard the ship.

No one collected our numbered Intransit cards -- so I have no idea what that was about.

Also -- we were not excused from the second lifeboat drill as had been the case in the last few back-to-back cruises that we have done. Everyone had to attend. Both of our lifeboat drills were at 4:30.

 

I think you haveto do the life boat drill before each voyage commences.

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RMLincoln

RMLincoln

Posted
Posted

We are booked on a Collectors B2B in March, In and out of Pt Everglades. We've only done one B2B before, on NCL in and out of Houston. We had a great day on the hsip on our touraround....

 

Sounds like this one will be more complex so I'm glad for the forewarning so we know what to expect... that is lower our expectations and increase our patience level!

 

I'm sure it'll all work out, and if that's what it takes to get back on the ship... how many times have I gotten off a ship and wished I could get back on? :D

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innlady1

innlady1

Posted
Posted

We've done two, 20 day b2b's on the Noordam - in '09 and '10. First time, we did a Fort Lauderdale shore excursion that was fun...a bus tour and a canal tour on the Carrie B. The next year, we opted to stay on the ship.

Of the two, I think enjoying the day in Fort Lauderdale is more fun than staying on the ship.

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